Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Macdonald for his question. He is a passionate supporter of the development of the north and knows how important it is to have reliable and affordable power to develop the north. As he was alluding to, there is no base load power station in North Queensland right now. Indeed, I will quote from a press release from a Treasurer a few years ago, which says:

Currently, the only base load power supply available to North Queensland is generated south of Rockhampton, making it cost-prohibitive for many resource projects being explored in the Northern Galilee Basin.

That press release was actually from former Treasurer Wayne Swan, who commissioned a review into the potential for a new coal-fired power station to be built in the north so that we could have some jobs and development in North Queensland, just like the rest of the country enjoys. That review came back a few years ago, in early 2014, and it concluded that a major coal-fired power station will put strong downward pressure on electricity prices. A review commissioned by former Treasurer Wayne Swan had that conclusion, and what's the Labor Party's view today? No to coal-fired power; yes to higher electricity prices. That's their position.

We know that too because a couple of weeks ago we found out that the Queensland Labor government were sitting on a report that said pretty much exactly the same thing. The department of energy in Queensland earlier this year commissioned a review to see what the impact of a new coal-fired power station in North Queensland would be, and guess what? It found that it would generate power at a lower price than currently exists in Queensland wholesale markets and that, under a mid-electricity scenario and a mid-price scenario, the power station would have a net present value of $359 million to $734 million. That means it would make money for the state of Queensland. It would make money; it would bring down power prices, and still the Labor Party say no to the people of North Queensland.